District 14 team looks forward to getting down to business

Coming off of her State Senate election win Tuesday, Karen S. Montgomery (D-Dist. 14) of Brookeville said she is eager to tackle education and disability issues when she returns to the General Assembly in Annapolis in January.

Montgomery, who has served in the House of Delegates since 2003, defeated Republican Eric J. Cary of Damascus with nearly 62 percent of the votes to his 38 percent, the closest of any State Senate race in the county.

Montgomery was not surprised that Cary garnered so many votes on Tuesday.

"I thought of people who were unhappy with me winning the primary and probably thinking about making their displeasure known," she said Wednesday.

Cary said he was surprised at the voter turnout  he expected better results.

"Speaking to people in the district and opposite party, the reception was very favorable," Cary said.

On the issues, Montgomery said she will focus on working for individuals with disabilities and relieving the county from paying teacher pensions.

"My job is to protect the teachers not only in Montgomery County, but in Maryland, and have the state pick up the pension," she said.

In the District 14 House of Delegates race, incumbent Del. Anne Kaiser (D) of Burtonsville won a third term with 21.35 percent, while newcomers Craig Zucker (D) of Brookeville and Eric Luedtke (D) of Burtonsville won the remaining two House seats with 20.11 percent and 19.18 percent of the total vote, respectively.

Kaiser, Zucker and Luedtke defeated Republican candidates Patricia Fenati of Damascus, who received 13.7 percent of the votes, Henry Kahwaty of Olney, who received 13 percent, and Maria Peña-Faustino of Laytonsville, who received 12.5 percent.

After the primaries, Montgomery, Kaiser, Zucker and Luedtke united to form the District 14 Democratic Team.

"None of our team members took anything for granted. We were going to work to the last moment," Zucker said Wednesday. "We believed that our message would resonate [with voters] and that we were the right team to represent the district."

Upon arriving in Annapolis early, Zucker, the deputy chief of staff for Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D), said his team will work on job creation, maintaining quality education and seeing that District 14 receives what it needs in state assistance.

"We have a great team. We get along and we have the best interests of District 14," Zucker said. "The good thing now that the campaign is over, we can really focus on public service"